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Georgia Injury Reporting for Workers� Comp

December 7th, 2006 Posted by Mark

The state of Georgia leaves a lot of the initiative for handling work related injuries to you, Georgia employers. What I mean by that is that the state suggests that you or your supervisor who works with the injured employee should be proactive when it comes to an employee telling you that they’ve been hurt.

If it is the supervisor or you directly who gets this news from the injured employee, it doesn’t matter. Who ever is the representative of management to the injured worker will be the person who can most influence how this workers’ comp claim turns out. One, the reason is simply because the injured employee must feel comfortable enough with you to have reported it to you (compared to somebody else). And two, the law has certain responsibilities for the supervisor and or employer when it comes to dealing with injuries.

One of these responsibilities, Georgia employers, is to actually take the time to help out with the injury. If the accident happened right then and there, recommend that the worker go get medical help immediately if need be. Even if the case isn’t an immediate emergency, or happened a day or two ago, you should still recommend that the employee get medical attention. Remember, in Georgia, the workers’ comp system works by the employer and their insurance company having a Panel of Physicians that employees can go to for workers’ comp related medical care.

Once the employee picks a doctor to visit, you should get in touch with the doctor and fill them in on what you know about the injury, as well as what you know about the job that the employee does on a regular basis. Then you should contact the state workers’ comp department to report the injury—within 24 hours of you finding out—at 877-656-RISK.